So happy that Christmas is around the corner! We have already decorated our tree and now we are waiting. I love everything about this holiday. The decorations, the festivities, Santa himself :) and of course all the food that comes with it! We as Greeks have our own type of celebrations for Christmas and of course our own type of desserts. One of the desserts that is famous this time of the year is the Melomakarona (Μελομακάρονα). It is a type of cookie made with olive oil and walnuts, baked and then soaked lightly in this syrup made from sugar, water and lots of honey! It is a fasting type of dessert since the month before Christmas is a fasting month and to tell you the truth it is sad that we only eat this during Christmas. We should be eating them the whole year round! :) They come in small pieces and usually you can eat one or two at a time - kind alike a treat - and it's all it takes to leave this fine sweet taste in your mouth. The aroma of cinnamon, cloves, and cognac combined with the taste of honey is all it takes to warm your soul in the cold winter months. Try making them and you won't regret it!Kali Oreksi!​Dia, Kostas and Tony

Hello everyone and so so sorry for taking so long to write! A lot has happened but all in good time we will share with you all the details. Just as a summary though we made a trip to Africa where we visited Ethiopia. We were welcomed by people there and we left with the best memories. We are planning to go again. Till then...let's focus on cooking. We are going through the last month of 2015 and I can't believe that the year is almost over...so fast! As we get older I think time flies even faster. It's like we are entering a different dimension of time :) December is one month that is all about the cooking. Christmas dinner, desserts, baking, and in general all the different aromas that are coming from the kitchen are just delicious! Today is a special celebration. St Barbara is being celebrated Greece. There is a tradition in northern Greece where they cook this dessert type called barbara (βαρβάρα). It is made of boiled wheat, raisins, dried figs, sugar, and roasted flour to thicken the mixture. It is served warm with sprinkled walnuts, roasted almonds, and cinnamon and it is usually eaten in the morning since it is kinda heavy. Lots of calories but in a cold December morning I can't imagine a better breakfast! Here in UAE, we put the AC down a little and we ate it despite being warm outside :) Try it and you won't regret it!Kali Oreksi and happy names day to all the Barbaras out there!Dia, Kostas and Tony

Greek cuisine has a long tradition and its flavors change with the season and its geography. Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western cuisine, spread its culinary influence - via ancient Rome - throughout Europe and beyond. It has influences from the different people's cuisine the Greeks have interacted with over the centuries, as evidenced by several types of sweets and cooked foods.

It was Archestratos in 320 B.C. who wrote the first cookbook in history. Greece has a culinary tradition of some 4,000 years.Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality and was founded on the "Mediterranean triad": wheat, olive oil, and wine, with meat being rarely eaten and fish being more common. This trend in Greek diet continued in Roman and Ottoman times and changed only fairly recently when technological progress has made meat more available. Wine and olive oil have always been a central part of it and the spread of grapes and olive trees in the Mediterranean and further afield is correlated with Greek colonization.